Social Policy, Advocacy and Partnerships for Children's Rights
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© UNICEF Egypt/Noorani/2007 |
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UNICEF runs informative campaigns at the household and community levels on key issues such as hygiene, HIV/AIDS, FGM/C, immunization, and Avian Influenza |
Despite the fact that they constitute more than 40% of Egypt’s population, children and their rights are still low on the priority list of social policies. UNICEF places a strong emphasis on community awareness education, dialogue and involvement to bring about social change favourable to children.
Projects:-
Social Policy Innovations
The creation of the National Observatory on Child Rights at the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood in 2008 marks a new phase in Egypt’s attention to social policy needs of children. The Observatory, established with UNICEF support, collects and analyses information on children, notably the Child Poverty Study, and gives policy advice to help the formulation of more appropriate child-friendly policies.
UNICEF supports the establishment of a Young Innovators Award on Social Sciences for Children. This will enable final year students to conduct policy research on children, with the potential to win a scholarship for further studies.
UNICEF is working with university partners to establish a full year eight-course university post graduate diploma on Public Policy and Children and an intensive three week summer course. The diploma will help equip policy makers, service providers, journalists and others to better legislate and advocate for, and allocate funds for children.
Strategic Information on Children
UNICEF supports the Egypt Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre and the national statistics bureau, CAPMAS, in adopting UNICEF data mapping technology (DevInfo) for the management and dissemination of data on women and children. A national child well-being monitoring and evaluation system will be established and feed into better decentralized planning.
Media and Advocacy
UNICEF works to increase public awareness on children’s issues through its relationships with the media, celebrities, private sector and other influential organizations. Children are trained on using media tools to better explore issues of concern to them. The project also seeks to influence child rights-based policies through good use of evidence and data-based information.
Communication for Development
UNICEF runs informative campaigns at the household and community levels on key issues such as hygiene, HIV/AIDS, FGM/C, and immunization. Of recent and particular concern is the production of informative and educational Avian Influenza materials tailored to rural communities and providing training for the government’s extended network of 11,500 community health workers who conduct house to house visits. Avian Infuenza awareness campaigns target 12,000,000 families and 36,000,000 children in the rural areas of Egypt.
